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EBRD

"If MDBs follow through on this commitment, we would expect the EBRD’s brand-new strategy to be obsolete within a year, given what will be required to truly align with the Paris Agreement ambition to limit warming to 1.5°C," said Alex Doukas, Program Director at Oil Change International.

While the MDBs endorsed the Sustainable Development Goals, this new report shows that from 2014 through 2017, MDBs directed just 2% of their energy finance toward the off-grid and mini-grid energy solutions.

Overall, the MDBs are not financing energy access at nearly a sufficient level to meet the needs of energy-poor communities. Much of the energy access finance that is being provided is being directed to many of the communities that need it most. But even so, energy access is not reflected as a priority for the MDBs.

Yesterday, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) released a revised draft of its energy sector strategy. The draft of the new strategy is due to be finalized by the end of 2018, and will have bearing on billions of dollars in public finance for energy.

As EBRD and EIB prepare for their respective energy sector strategy reviews, 65 civil society groups from 28 countries released an open letter being sent to top EBRD and EIB officials demanding that they stop financing oil, gas, and coal projects.

Two important actions were added to the growing list of recent global steps curbing public finance for coal. First, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) joined the World Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB) in adopting a new Energy Strategy that significantly restricts support for coal power projects. As the second climate feat of the week, the U.S. government voted no on the Board of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a proposed coal power plant in Pakistan. However, even though the U.S. and several other countries voted no or abstained from supporting the Pakistan coal plant, the ADB board still had a simple majority, and therefore approved $900 million in funding for the 600 MW Jamshoro coal plant.

Paying lip service to climate science and then running full speed ahead down the fossil fuel pathway to climate chaos is just another form of climate denial. We need our leaders to wake up and make some hard choices, commensurate with the difficult climate reality we face.